School expenses include, among other things, expenses for

• Provision, furnishing, equipment, management and maintenance of school facilities,
• teaching materials and textbooks as so-called learning materials,
• school events,
• facilities to help shape school life,
• business needs of the school,
• the necessary transportation of pupils to and from school (in the case of primary/middle/subsidiary schools also the necessary transportation on the way to school) and
• domestic staff.

In principle, the responsible local authority is the school authority for both state and municipal schools. Only in exceptional cases (e.g. state grammar schools with a home) does the state bear the school costs itself.

In some areas, e.g. construction measures, the cost of free learning materials and school transport, the state provides grants to the local authority responsible for school expenses.

In the case of private schools, a distinction is made as to whether the schools are run as supplementary or replacement schools. Only substitute schools are eligible for state funding. State funding is provided in various forms depending on the type of school and in some cases differentiates between state-approved and state-recognized schools. Components of the funding in the area of school expenses include, for example, grants for construction measures, in some cases reimbursement of school fees and other benefits such as allocations to the costs of free learning materials, insofar as free learning materials are granted. The financing of school expenses in the private school sector is usually based on lump sums.

Furthermore, private schools can finance themselves by charging school fees (within the constitutionally permissible framework) and through third-party contributions (e.g. donations, municipal services).